Enterprise Reference Architecture: A Primer on IoT-Based Systems

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Our previous blog discussed IoT as a new paradigm for a new world, requiring a new reference architecture to guide the development of IoT enterprise solutions – a common framework that provides consistent definitions for the decompositions and design patterns of the system of interest.

The reference architecture should be vendor-neutral and not specific to any set of technologies. Developing a single architecture that covers all the requirements of the connected ecosystem is a big challenge. The reference architecture covers multiple aspects of the enterprise-wide backend layers, including domain-specific applications and decision support systems that consume data from the IoT devices.

When in place, the reference architecture’s principles, standards, reference models, and best practices ensure that the new system’s aligned investments have the greatest possible likelihood of success: lower cost in both the short and long term (TCO), better policy implementation and better service delivery to end users.

The 7 high-level architecture requirements for an IoT-based system

Context: Captures the context at all times, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year

Scalability: Responds to increased load by a decline in performance, not failure; increases capacity proportionally as resources are added

Data Management: Efficiently manages huge volumes of data

Connectivity: Provides high network connectivity for large data payloads and continuous streaming

Security: Moves and encrypts information securely even as IoT introduces new risks and vulnerabilities

Interoperability: Networks all systems together and ensures interoperability of all data

The 3 tiers of IoT logical reference architecture

The following diagram depicts the IoT logical reference architecture as three tiers: 1. Edge; 2. Platform; and 3. Enterprise. These tiers process the data flows and control flows based on usage activities across the enterprise systems. They Span three networks, as shown in Figure 1 below:

Fig 1: IoT Logical Reference Architecture

1) Edge

Consists of IoT devices and the IoT gateway. The architectural characteristics of this tier, including its breadth of distribution and location, depend on the specific use cases of the enterprise. It is common for IoT devices to communicate using a relatively short range and specialised proximity network, due to power and processing limitations. The IoT gateway contains a data store for IoT device data, one or more services to analyse data streaming from the IoT devices or from the data store, and control applications. The IoT gateway provides endpoints for device connectivity, facilitating bidirectional communication with the enterprise systems. It also implements edge intelligence with different levels of processing capabilities.

2) Platform

Receives, processes and forwards control commands from the Enterprise tier to the Edge tier. The Platform tier consolidates, processes and analyses data flows from the Edge tier, and provides management functions for devices and assets. It also offers non-domain-specific services such as data operations and analytics.

3) Enterprise

Receives data flows from the Edge and Platform tiers, and issues control commands to these tiers. The Enterprise tier implements enterprise domain-specific applications and decision support systems, and provides interfaces to end users, including operations.

The different networks used to connect these three tiers are:

The proximity network connects the sensors, actuators, devices, control systems and assets, collectively called edge nodes. It typically connects these edge nodes in one or more clusters to a gateway that bridges to other networks.

The access network enables data and control flows between the Edge and the Platform tiers. It may be a corporate network, or a private network overlaid over the public Internet or a 4G/5G network.

The service network enables connectivity between the services in the platform tier and the enterprise tier, and the services within each tier. It may be an overlay private network over the public Internet, or the Internet itself, allowing enterprise-grade security between end-users and various services.

Users of the IoT system include both humans and digital users. Humans typically interact with the IoT system using one or more kinds of user devices – smartphones, personal computers, tablets or specialised devices. In all cases, the IoT system provides some form of application that connects the human user with the rest of the IoT system.

The 11 layers within the connected enterprise

The following diagram illustrates where IoT fits in an enterprise ecosystem:

Fig 2: IoT in Connected Enterprise

1) Access Layer

End users – both internal and external to the enterprise – interact with channel(s) and play a role in the overall customer journey.

2) Channel Layer

End users use media to interact with the enterprise over multiple channels, both physical and digital.

3) Customer Experience Layer

A collection of presentation components and services – the critical systems the enterprise uses to engage with end users.

4) Consumer Layer

Acts as a gateway for channels, and aggregates functionalities through composition and orchestration, mediation, and routing. Its key capabilities are:

API Gateway: a single point of entry giving consumers access to backend services, as provided by API Management platforms. The composition and orchestration of these services are based on customer journey and context.

State Management: manages state and transition. Control logic is decoupled from the user interface and managed at the customer experience layer.

5) Business and Information Services Layer

Provides cross-channel capabilities. Its design is based on micro-services architecture principles. A business service system is responsible for realising traditional or new Internet-specific business functions, including: Enterprise Resource Management (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), asset management, service lifecycle management, payment processing, human resource activities, work planning and scheduling systems.

This layer is a key enabler: it provides mediation, transformation, protocol and routing capabilities, and acts as a gateway to integrate with core enterprise systems. It also provides aggregation and broker communications.

The Enterprise Integration layer is responsible for integrating the IoT environment into the enterprise’s business processes. The IoT solution ties into existing line-of-business applications and standard software solutions through adapters or Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and business-to-business (B2B) gateway capabilities.

8) Enterprise Systems Layer

This layer is a collection of enterprise back-office core systems and applications that house business logic and data.

9) IoT Layer

This layer consists of the following:

IoT Operations: A collection of capabilities and systems for provisioning, management and monitoring

Platform Layer: A collection of information management / analytics and enterprise integration capabilities which can capture and process events and generate insights

Control and Sensing Layer: A collection of capabilities to read sensor data, apply necessary rules/logic and deliver data and control signals to actuators

Physical Devices Layer: A collection of physical systems such as smart sensors, devices and machines.

10) Security

This layer handles single sign-in, authentication, encryption and authorisation capabilities

11) Collaboration & Management

This layer leverages infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-service technologies, as it requires large computing capabilities.

Opportunities

There are many opportunities for enterprises to use IoT to make business services more efficient and customer-centric. IoT can help enterprises achieve their most important goals:

Create significant impact on customer experience and deliver unified product and service experience

Huge cost savings/revenue

Improving employee productivity

Improving customer requests and service delivery

Improving innovation

The effectiveness of IoT cannot be realised without the collaboration of Industry, Enterprise and Agencies. Enterprises and Agencies work together to build a consistent set of standards that everyone must follow. This Enterprise Reference Architecture can guide the development of systems that can manage the large number of IoT devices and the volume of data they emit. This large volume of new information allows a new collaboration of enterprise, industry and customer. It enables the rapid development of IoT-focused preventive and predictive analytics.

Dr. Gopala Krishna Behara is a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff & Lead Enterprise Architect of SCA Practice with 20+ years of extensive experience in the ICT industry which spans across Architecture Consulting, Enterprise Architecture, Service Oriented Architecture, Business Process Management, Solution Architecture, Product Development and Systems Integration. He is certified in Open Group TOGAF, IBM Cloud Solutions.

Raju Myadam is a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff and Chief Architect with Wipro Digital. With more than 19 years of experience, Raju brings in digital transformation customer-centered architecture and technology expertise for clients. Raju specializes in digital business architecture covering omnichannel, emerging architecture patterns such as micro-services, service style & reactive, API management & Integration PaaS, Big Data, NOSQL, DevOps, and Cloud. He is certified AWS Solution Architect, Open Group TOGAF.